Lunch and marriage...go together like a horse and carriage

The Council's Christmas Tree in Martin Place

Arriving by train at Martin Place yesterday for lunch with Da who is visiting from Canberra for the weekend to attend the Australian Ballet's production of Romeo and Juliet I snapped this photograph of Sydney Council's Christmas Tree.

Behind me and intentionally out of camera range was a modest gathering arguing to 'maintain marriage'; ie anti same sex unions. Earlier I had heard on news bulletins pro same sex union protesters drowning out the speeches of this group but all was quiet as I passed by.

I guess that the pro same sex union gatherers would have moved on by then to nearby Hyde Park for their meeting.

I met Da in Pitt Street Mall and we walked over to the Strand Arcade for lunch and a long gossip. We sat at one of the tables in the long aisle of the arcade and from my seat I could see the opening to the Mall in the distance. Whilst we ate I first heard and then glimpsed the same sex union supporters walking by the arcade on their way to Darling Harbour where only minutes earlier the Australian Labor Party had voted to include same sex unions in party policy. I could tell, both from the noise and what I could glimpse in the distance, that there were many more people participating in the pro same sex union rally.

Da and I chatted on for a long while. My lunch of sourdough toasted BLT with chicken was delicious. I can recommend it. On the other hand, Da's choice of sour dough toast and vegemite looked...well...a little dry.